24.9.17

Biafra: Don’t condemn IPOB – Tinubu tells Nigerians

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former
governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, has said Nigerians should not
condemn but listen and understand the agitations by the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB).
He said this while delivering the Keynote speech at the 2017 Annual
Dinner of the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) at King’s
College, Lagos.

The APC leader, who said the cry for separation had gained traction
among average people due to the chronic failure of government to meet
basic aspirations, however, warned against any attempt to split the
country.
Tinubu noted that gargantuan challenges were facing the country but
explained that they were not enough to call for the dismantling of the
federation at a time some parts of the world were taking advantage of
integration.
He said: “It is a rather curious lapse that a nation with such
diversity as ours has not taken the time to give our legal marriage its
proper functional underpinning. In other words, we all lined up to call
ourselves Nigerian without gathering to discuss what it meant.
“Thus, we inhabit a nation that has not sufficiently defined its
governance. We may be defined by political borders and boundaries but we
have not glued ourselves to collective purpose and vision. Too many of
us are born in Nigeria but not of it.

“Thus, our society is not a collective enterprise as important to
each of us as our own personal endeavor. It is but a platform, an arena,
to claim whatever one can by whatever means available. In too many ways
we resemble a wrestling match instead of the nation we were ‎meant to
become.
“Thus, we argue over matters that long ago should have been settled.
The longer such fundamental questions fester, the more extreme become
the proposed answers.
“Thus, we have people clamoring for secession in one part of the
country and the murmur of such a course grows stronger in other
sections.
“These other areas resent that some have advocated secession. Blame
and recrimination become the political currency. Statesmanship falls in
short supply. The dominant urge is to confront instead of reconcile.

“It would be wrong to mistake this for a tempest in a teapot. If not careful, we may be tossed about like a teapot in a tempest.
“We must listen to what is being said so that we can determine what is really meant.
“Let us be frank. Many who cry separation do so because their
personal ambitions will be better served by such a thing. They believe
they will have greater chance at political power under a different
arrangement. Yet the cry for separation has gained traction among
average people; this is due to the chronic failure of government to meet
basic aspirations.
“If over the years, government had delivered on the promise of
growth, prosperity, and justice, those calling for such extreme remedies
would be but a small fringe of little consequence.
“Our task is not to condemn but to listen and understand. I care not
at all for this proposed solution. But I dare not discount the concerns
and problems that have led many people into advocating such a thing.
“Here, I want to plainly state my position. I am a firm believer in
Nigeria. I believe this land will become a great nation and a leader
among other African nations. We can resolve our dysfunctions in a manner
that will make this nation rise as a standard of decency, justice and
prosperity for all Nigerians.
“So many excellent people have devoted themselves, even given their
very lives, to give life to this nation. I dare not cast aside their
hardy and brave work as if it were nothing. Many things we now enjoy and
see as good are due to these people. We have benefited from their labor
and sacrifice.
“Being more pragmatic, separating the nation into small pieces
resolves nothing and creates additional problems. The world marches
toward integration. Europe, America, Asia seek trade and commercial
pacts that will make them more integrated markets. Notwithstanding
Brexit, the EU grows more integrated in the functions of governance by
the day. Thus, while nations more powerful and developed than us seek to
pool their wealth and might, some of us seek to whittle this nation
into smaller pieces.
“Such a thing would make us more vulnerable to outside influences. We
would forfeit our rightful place on the world stage and as a leader of
this continent.
“Moreover, not every split solves a problem. The political mentality,
either good or bad, that defined a group before the split will remain
after the divide. If one is imbued with factionalism, that perspective
will remain even when the immediate problem is surmounted. Division will
manifest differently, but manifest it will.
“A new factional bigotry will arise to replace the old. The cycle of
tension and unrest will take its inexorable toll. Just ask the people of
South Sudan if their woes ended when they left Sudan.
“When your heart is geared toward division, you will seek it within a
single tribe, even a single family. The gossamer of ethnic unity will
be ripped apart by sub-ethnic squabble. An angry man outside his home
remains angry inside it as well and a thief steals from both stranger
and friend.
“Driven by such a mentality, even someone you once called your
brother becomes a nuisance, then a burden, and ultimately your enemy in
short order.
“Thus, I oppose talk of break-up and all other exotic political
arrangements tantamount to it. That I am a foe of disunity does not mean
I have blinded myself to the truth that our nation is in need of great
repair.
“We all see the nation for what it is. Some look further to see the nation for what it is not and they rush to condemn it.

“I choose to see the nation for what it can be and thus seek to
nurture and cultivate it so that this Nigeria may bring forth the
fullest blossoming of its riches, resources and ingenuity of its diverse
people.”